


Prince of Lies

by BlankAce



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: AU, Action, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Military, Bonding, Cadets, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Hiccup, Lies, Secret Identity, Soldiers, Spy - Freeform, War, prince Hiccup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-04-06 08:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14052930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlankAce/pseuds/BlankAce
Summary: As a spy Hiccup didn't expect a cushy desk job, and he didn't get one… At first. Now Hiccup is being tasked with training a handful of cadets at a new dragon academy in Berk. But with his clan about to make a decision that will change the tides of the war what is to come of the bond he is building with his students? And, in the end, what is to come of him?





	1. Patriot

In the sweet breeze of the ending spring it was easy to put everything behind you. Flying on the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself made it even easier. The smooth scales that rubbed against his wrist and the worn leather saddle between his legs felt entirely natural. He couldn’t care less about the men who rode behind him. Today was a perfect day for flying. 

Below him stretched an endless and rhythmic rolling ocean. The horizon un-obscured by a single cloud, the huge faded blue sky itself dotted with only a lonely few. The sun had peaked hours ago and was now making a quick decent. Hiccup really couldn’t have asked for a better day to go flying. But he certainly could have asked for a better day.

The horizon had became blemished with something other than a cloud, several black bodies formed where the sky was melting away. His peaceful flight was coming to an end and he was reluctantly pulled back to his reality. Behind him the harsh wing beats of a dragon grew louder and Hiccup slowed to ride beside them. 

“Major Haddock?” The man on the dragon beside him spoke, the uncertainty in his voice changing his name into a question. Though he was obviously several years older than the major he had addressed, he did it with respect. He was one of the few who did. 

“Yes Staff Commander Lufin?” Hiccup asked; he was starting to get the feeling that those black bodies forming in the distance weren’t birds. They grew in size and moved ever closer and they definitely weren’t birds. But they could be... 

Lufin shifted, unlike Hiccup who was turned casually towards him and rode his dragon without the help of a control bridle, he had to make sure he had a firm grip on his. After he had rearranged his hands he turned back to his major. Hiccup was frowning at him now, like he had just been offended. “We are being approached by several enemy riders.”

Hiccup sighed and, with a comfortable simplicity, turned backwards on his dragon, facing towards its tail. Lufin watched the now common display. The man before him was not normal. A 19-year-old major was almost unheard of, but one who moved with such ease on the back of a killer beast was plain terrifying. 

The man who was more a boy ruffled through a saddle bag that rested on his dragons back, just above the tail. The dragon itself seemed unconcerned with what its master was doing. The sleek black beast was the embodiment of the team it leads. A team of Striker dragons, lead by a skilled man backed by a horrifying dragon. Dragons built for speed and known for their ability to kill. Hiccups’ dragon didn’t wear its armor, Hiccup always claimed it was too bulky and slowed them down. Though it was obvious that when leading his group he never got anywhere close to top speed anyway. 

Hiccup did wear armor. A specialized set that, had he been ranked nay lower, resembled a dragon a little too closely. His helmet was a matte steel, decorated with three rows of horns. Some said it was actual dragon teeth but Hiccup had crafted them from a clay like stone and had no qualms about sharing that information. He had a metal breastplate and shoulder guards the same steel as the helmet. A large buckle was strapped on the breastplate, and underneath the metal buckle was his units emblem in red and black.

Under that was brown padding and two black belts wrapped, one around his waist, and the other a little higher. He had two almost identical bracers, the only difference was that one held a small dagger. They were steel but they had brown leather padding wrapped on the outside as well. His pants were green and had brown leather straps wrapping around them. He only had one boot, the other foot was replaced by a gleaming metal prosthetic.

It was almost comical when you looked at the two of them. So calm and young they looked more like bright eyed cadets then equal opponents to the enemy. Even now as Hiccup fumbled for his telescope his youth showed.

The golden telescope that he had crafted himself slipped from his hand. 

“Oops. Ummm… Toothless fetch?” It was another strange thing about the boy to, he had named his dragon, a creature made for killing, Toothless.

Hiccup was still facing backwards as the dragon plummeted towards the ocean. As they fell he buckled his knees and locked his fingers into the saddle. He lay down on the dragon as it dropped through the sky, watching the black masses blur at the speed. It ended as quickly as it started as the dragon flew past the telescope and leveled out again. The telescope landed on Hiccups stomach with a solid thump. “Thank you for that, bud.” Hiccup muttered sarcastically, they were now skimming the ocean, above them his team of five flew. He sat up and turned around, mindlessly rubbing the dragons head as he unfolded his scope.

A group of seven enemy dragon riders with determined expressions flew towards them. They rode a wide array of dragons. A Monstrous Nightmare led the group. They were Unknost soldiers, riders from Drago’s army. He coaxed Toothless up, taking position in front of the other dragons. 

“V formation,” he shouted out. Behind him Staff Commander repeated the order. “There are seven enemy soldiers approaching from the north. They are lead by a Monstrous Nightmare, they don’t seem to be a hit team but they have seen us and have not changed direction. This may have started as a patrol mission, men, but we’re going to have to fight. These men are either stupid or skilled so watch yourself. Keep their dragons alive, they can be retrained. Understood?” 

His voice carried above the rumble of the waves below them and the thrum of their dragon’s wings. Two years of commanding had perfected his pitch. His men, in unison, called out. “Yes, Sir!” They were itching for something other than border patrol. 

Hiccup leaned forward and pulled his sword from his belt. He thrust it downward so it ran the length of his leg; the blade was licked by bright flames. He brought his body close to Toothless and streamlined himself. Then he thrust his sword in the air and cried out. 

“For Vikiean!”

◊◊◊ 

The battle was fought with such intensity that not even the splash from a fallen comrade would break the soldier’s concentration. And there were a lot of splashes.

By the end of the battle Hiccup had lost more men than he ever thought he would, his words about the enemy being stupid or skilled coming back to haunt him. Only he and Staff Commander Lufin remained. Below them the sea was littered with bodies of dragons and humans. One dragon was still alive, the leader’s dragon. Its wings had been locked up as soon as their rider had fallen off. The mechanism that helped riders control their dragons was known to malfunction and holding down a dragon’s wings. But right now it was killing them. 

“Let’s go major, nothing we can salvage here.” Staff Commander mumbled. 

“It’s drowning Lufin.” 

“Just one less enemy dragon to worry about. We should get our fallen soldiers and return to the base.” Hiccup didn’t respond, he just continued to watch the dragon.

“Sorry,” Hiccup finally replied, and then he and Toothless dove towards the sea. 

“Toothless you stay up here, drop me off there and I’ll release it.” Toothless obeyed and Hiccup slid from his saddle. Above them Lufin was shouting for him to come back.

Hiccup was already under the water. The dragon was thrashing and wild in fear. Hiccup swam over to the nearest wing; the dragons legs were a flurry of activity. “It’s okay. I’m going to help you now.” He tried to calm the beast in his head, it obviously didn’t work. The Nightmare didn’t stop thrashing and Hiccup had to swim away a little to avoid its claws. He tried to cut the rope from above the dragon but he couldn’t get close. Seeing that he wouldn’t be able to free the dragon like this he took a deep breath. 

Underwater everything was quieter, even the violent kicking from the dragons seemed somehow subdued. He swam closer, trying his best to avoid the gleaming claws. The pull the dragons kicking made forced him to hold onto the beasts wing. The frenzied animal didn’t even notice the extra weight. He pulled out his dagger and started to saw away.

He moved hurriedly, wanting to free the dragon quickly, as he worked the dragons paddling slowed. He had one wing free! The dragon noticed the sudden lack of restriction and started to flap viciously. The wing came down forcefully, and even with the water breaking its stride it hit hard. 

It clipped Hiccups head throwing him backwards; the sudden movement knocked the wind out of him. He struggled to get back to the surface. The dragon struggled to get the clasp off. With one side broken the mechanism started to slide right off. The dragon kicked one more time. 

Hiccup in his blind struggle for air had put himself in a bad position. The dragon's talon had dug deep into his side, suddenly the water around him was dyed red. The searing pain that blossomed in his side was numbed by the burning in his lungs. Soon his struggle to break surface became all the more important. He saw red, then everything started to turn black. Then he saw black, his darkness. 

With the little strength he had left he stretched his arm out, the black mass took hold of it gently. Soon it was pulling him upwards, and seconds later his lungs were filling themselves with salty air. Toothless gave him a worried look as he struggled to get on the dragons back. Toothless had done a much better job than Hiccup. Though his job had arguably been easier.

The saddle was now soaking wet yet Hiccup clung desperately to the brown leather. When he had managed to clamber onto Toothless, the Staff Commander had flown down close to them. He had a serious scowl on his face. “You chose an injured dragon over your fallen comrades.” The man growled. 

“The dragon was still alive; I gave that priority over collecting the dead.” Hiccup defended. 

The man’s scowl deepened. “Of course. I’ll tell that to their families then. You are a traitor, are you not, dragons should never take priority.” 

Hiccup’s eyes narrowed, he silently praised himself for lasting this long without getting caught. “I’m sorry Lufin.” 

“It’s Staff Commander Lufin.” He growled pulling his sword from his sheath. Hiccup just watched, kind of blankly, pushing his mind away from what was happening. Vacantly he pulled his sword from it clutch. Then he used his unfair advantage. 

There was a sharp noise, then Toothless opened his mouth and shot an intense flaming ball at the man. Lufin screamed, throwing his arms up in a futile attempt to protect himself. Hiccup steeled himself as the flames enveloped the man, throwing him from his Deadly Nadder and dropping him into the sea. He joined the bodies that mingled in the ocean below. Part of him burned with a desire for a fair fight, but he would not put Toothless or the plan in danger for his own morals. 

“What should we do?” Hiccup said, though he knew what he was going to do. He kind of hated himself for it. Toothless knew to as he had already started to turn, leaving Staff Commander Lufin to finds his grave with the other fallen men. He turned and gave a silent salute. 

◊◊◊

“I think it would be best if you just dropped me in the ocean near shore, I could say I swam for awhile and then I passed out.” 

Toothless just looked at him and tilted his head, then let out a short churl. After leaving the area Toothless had lead the Monstrous Nightmare and the Deadly Nadder to a small Island nearby. He thought he knew the name was Berk but he was unsure. They had settled on an unpopulated beach for a breather. Hiccup sat on a log, shivering from the cold. He had used his undershirt to wrap his wound, the rest of his clothes was still soaking wet. 

His wound had started to smart something horrible but the Nightmare beside him seemed so sorry that he didn’t want to complain in front of it. 

“It has to be believable bud. If you drop me off on the shore I won’t be half drowned.” The dragon looked even more confused. “You won’t be able to come with me but you can stay nearby. After the army comes and gets me I can pretend to find you again.” 

The dragon perked up at the idea of hide and seek. Which would have made Hiccup laugh if it wasn’t for the fact that he was completely underestimating his body’s ability to pump blood out of itself. 

Beside him the Nightmare let out a throaty noise, it sounded apologetic. Hiccup rubbed it’s snout, which the beast had laid across his lap. Lufin’s Deadly Nadder just watched them unsure of what was happening. Hiccup realized that getting these dragons somewhere else should be a priority. 

“Toothless will take you back to a safe island," he spoke to the dragons, not caring they wouldn't understand the true meaning of the words, "it's full of friends to your kind. I’m one of them. Actually I’m supposed to be the leader. But they’ve got this brilliant mind out here doing grunt work. If I could I would take you myself but I have to clean up the mess I’ve made.” Hiccup gave it another affectionate and, he hopped, forgiving pat before looking at Toothless. The dragon stared back at him with worried green eyes. 

“Don’t trust me bud?” The dragon chuffed, then stretched, waiting for him. Hiccup climbed up onto his back. 

As soon as they were out of sight of the dragon he started to groan, clutching his side. He didn’t bother to tell Toothless anything, as the dragon slowed and flew steady so as not to jostle him about. The trip passed in a haze, he wasn’t quite sure what shore Toothless had taken him to but the city lights that dotted the large mountain at least promised people. Toothless had been as gentle as he could, but as Hiccups groaning had grown louder and closer to clenched-teeth-screams he couldn’t help but want to rush. 

Leaving the boy in the water was something the dragon was reluctant to do. But he trusted Hiccup so that was exactly what he did. The sun had set long ago, both had been too goal oriented to even throw a glance at what must have been a beautiful sunset. Instead they only saw the faint light at the rim of the world and the night that seemed to spill out across the sky. The water felt warm when Hiccup lowered himself into it. He knew that it probably wasn’t that warm though, but let his mind wander to a place where the water was warm and he wasn't badly injured. 

Toothless gave him one last worried look before flying up himself. Then he stopped, hovering above Hiccup. “Go away you Toothless. I’ll be okay. Go help the other dragons.” The dragon just looked at him, though it felt mocking Hiccup might have just been reading too much into it, and chuffed before flying a little higher. 

Hiccup ignored him and stared the distant shore; this had been a bad idea.


	2. Titles

The first time he woke up was unpleasant and noisy 

“-ey! Can you hear me? Hey!”

Hiccup wasn’t sure who was speaking but he seriously wanted them to stop. He wasn’t disoriented, and the feel of the sand under his body and the waves licking at his feet confirmed he had survived. He closed his hand, crunching a fistful of sand, then let it go.

“Oh thank goodness. Okay, don’t worry I’m going to get help.” It was a female voice that spoke. He didn’t open his eyes to see what she looked like. She sounded young, around his age maybe. He could hear her footsteps fading away. The waves still lapped at his feet and he shivered.

Before his mind fell back to dark he thought, she could have at least pulled me up a bit.

◊◊◊

The second time he woke up was painful and quiet. Light was streaming through an open window. It shone down on his eyes, forcing him to close them while they adjusted. After a second he opened them again.

He was in a simple room lying on a soft bed. There was a small bedside table and a chair on the left side, the other side was pretty bare except for the wooden door. He was completely alone, the only noise came from outside the window.

He struggled to sit up, his side resisted the movement and he wondered how long he had been asleep. It couldn’t have been long. Now sitting up he took note of what he was wearing. Basically nothing. All his armor had been removed along with his shirt so he was only wearing black pants. His waist was wrapped in a white bandage, which he had expected.

He didn’t see his clothing anywhere in the room. He shrugged the covers off himself and turned, carefully lifting his leg off the bed. It was aching softly. He tested it before putting his other leg down and standing up.

“Should you be doing that?” A voice called out from behind him. He looked back, seeing a young girl looking in from the window. She had blonde hair parted to the side, with two longer strands in front of her ears. It was braided in the back.

She was leaning on the window sill; she smiled at him, a kind and sweet grin. He returned the smile. “I’m sure I’m allowed to walk.” As soon as the words had left his mouth the door to his room burst open and an older woman tromped in. She took one look at him, a hardened military commander, and her motherly instincts kicked in.

“Oh you shouldn’t be up yet sweetheart. Go back to bed you’ve had a hard night.” Hiccup gaped. Behind him the blonde girl laughed.

“You don’t have to baby him Melvat, he’s a soldier after all.” The girl came to his defense. He nodded in agreement quickly.

“I’m looking for my clothes actually,” He gestured at himself, “I was wearing a lot more than this when I got here. Wait. I was wearing more than this when I got here right?” Melvat gave him a look before nodding.

“I can go get it now if you like.” She left soon after to get the clothes and he turned back to the girl.

“I’m Hiccup.”

“Astrid, Nice to meet you Major Hiccup.” She stressed the major part.

“Nice to meet you, Astrid.” He responded, stressing her name as well.

“Do you know where you are Major?”

“I think it’s Berk?” He walked over to her; each step sent a slight painful tremor up his left leg. He would have to check that out.

Berk had only joined the Vitikean a few weeks ago. The land was strategically placed and having easy access to build a base of march through were great advantages. He didn’t care much for politics but he knew that the king had promised them something to get their alliance.

“It is. Want me to show you around?”

At the time Melvat walked back in with some clothes. It wasn’t his though.

“Your clothes are still being repaired but this should fit you.” She looked him up and down, taking in his thin appearance. Hiccup ignored the look and grabbed his shirt. It was a plain light green tunic.

“Yeah sure show me around.”

◊◊◊

The town of Berk was built on a craggy cliff. The houses were sturdy but most of them were new. Berk had been the target of many attacks from both sides before they allied with the Vitikeans. There were long docks where large boats, merchants and fishers milled around on the work day. The people pf the town were lively, and as with most small towns curious about the arrival of a stranger. The town was clean and filled with strong men and women, he felt glad they were on his side.

Astrid seemed happy to give him a tour, though he wondered why she was so open to his arrival. It was as she had expected him. She was even aware of his title. As they walked on he could feel his wound stinging with each step. Finally he motioned to Astrid he needed a break and they stopped to sit and rest.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” he grunted clutching his side. He hadn’t opened his wound but even his left leg was starting to hurt again. He seriously needed to get that fixed. Something must have happened when he was in the ocean. He hadn't been an avid swimmer before the lose of his leg so he hadn't considered the affects of water on the mechanisms when it was constructed.

Hiccup looked up to give Astrid a reassuring smile. It was then he really took in the area they were resting at. Before him was a small dip that lead to an arena like area. Its top was covered with chains and there were several barred cages inside of the arena. It was like the gladiator arena in the capital.

“It’s the dragon training arena.” Astrid spoke up drawing his attention back to her. “It had been used for teaching kids how to fight dragon way back when but now it’s going to be used to teach the kids of Berk to ride dragons.”

Huh? Hiccup didn’t like politics but even he knew where all the training arenas were. Berk didn’t have one.

“Why do you look so confused?” Astrid asked him, furrowing her own brow, “You’re the one who is going to be teaching here.”

“What?”

◊◊◊

Hiccup was standing in front of the lord of Berk. Lord Stoick. The man was imposing, with his huge build and throaty voice. His hair was bright red and his beard had become quite overgrown, it was a length only someone outside of the capital would wear.

The man had just rooted through a week’s worth of letters to find the one that said specifically that Major Haddock would be teaching at the new Berk Cadet Academy. The letter said just that. Though his arrival date wasn’t set until three days from now.

“It’s an amazing coincidence that you would end up here Major. We sent a letter to the nearest base as soon as we realised who you were. Word of your strange arrival should have reached the capital by now. Though I am under the impression that you traveled with several other soldiers, were you separated?”

“No Lord. We were outnumbered, I hardly managed to escape with my life. They rest of my team were lost.”

“Oh,” the large man said, sombre at the news, “You have my condolences. You should send word of that to the capital along with a notice of your health.”

“Yes Lord.” Hiccup said. He was upset, tired, and completely shocked about having to teach. He wasn’t a teacher! He had more important things to do. He couldn’t be a good sp-. He stopped mid thought, even thinking it made him nervous. He didn’t want to have to deal with anything with the last incident still so fresh in his mind.

“I’ll go write that letter then.” Hiccup huffed angrily. Stoick only gave him a quick nod, brushing off the small Major’s attitude along with his abilities. The man couldn’t care less about how smart Hiccup was. And it showed through his disregard to how the news upset the boy.

Hiccup didn’t go write the letter. Instead he went out into the forest. He didn’t understand why he hadn’t been made aware of his transfer earlier. He wasn’t aware of why he had been transferred at all. He hadn’t done anything to let them know about himself had he?

He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the figure that lurked behind him. He had come a long ways out, the trees had completely blocked his view of the town and of the sea. He finally noticed the figure but it was to late.

Toothless leapt out of the tree, landing in front of Hiccup and letting out a low growl.

“Oh,” Hiccup said, “so this is how it is?” His hand went to his belt and he brandished an imaginary sword. Toothless glanced at it, then back at him, and in true innocence jumped onto Hiccup like a puppy. A flash of pain sent him into a fit of ‘ow ow owowowowowowow oooowwwwww.’ Toothless just gave him slobbery big licks.

“Yeah yeah, good to see you too. Now could you get off me?” The dragons snorted and with one more, happy, playful lick bound off the boy as gleefully as he had bounded on. Toothless was still wearing his brown leather saddle, which was odd since Hiccup had made it easy for the dragon to slip off. He noticed the red ribbon tied on one of the saddle’s bags.

A letter! Toothless gave him a curious look. He must have been given the letter by one of the council members back home. Hiccup started to read aloud, and Toothless listened intently. He had no idea how much the dragon understood.

“Hiccup, we were aware of your transfer.   
Spies in court have heard that a complaint has come in about a mission where you previously lost several dragons during transport. People were asking questions. It seems the higher ups wanted you out of town while they dealt with this.   
With the loss of your squadron you’ve practically sealed your fate. Acting out against the transfer now would be unfavourable and may bring about unwanted backlash.   
Stay low and serve your country well.

Also, Hiccup, you are missed by both the clan members and the dragons. We wish quick intel so we may finally end this war. The council is taking good care of the tribe in your absence. We are hoping the day we reunite openly will soon be upon, Prince of Dragons.”

“They just have to throw the title in there huh, bud.” Hiccup mumbled dismissively, he would have to dispose of the letter later.

“You stay here in the forest tonight okay, I’ll come get you in the morning. They should have accommodations for us by tomorrow night.” The dragon hummed and Hiccup rub his snout. “You keep a low profile to, I have to go and write a letter thanking people for this transfer. I’m sooooo thankful.”


	3. Play Nice

The sight of a forge had been as welcome as the gates of heaven and as hot as the gates of hell.

He’d spent that morning being shown his new home, which was in the newly built barracks beside the school. His room was the whole upper level, complete with a desk and a rack for his armor. The armor he had washed up in had been mended and polished. He had put it back on before continuing the tour of his new home.

Then he had been shown to the cage Toothless would be kept in, and immediately put up a resistance.

“Toothless is a well behaved dragon and I’m certainly not locking him in a cage every day.”

“Pardon me Major Haddock but it’s for the safety of everyone in the village we lock up the dragons. They are not pets but half-tamed beasts.”  
“I refuse to keep Toothless locked up.” Hiccup stood firm, the man just sighed and waved a hand in defeat.

“You’ll have to bring it up with Lord Stoic then.” That ended the tour and Hiccup had gone to get Toothless. The dragon had been ecstatic and followed Hiccup eagerly. He led Toothless to the cage despite what he had said, though he left it unlocked and slightly open in case the dragon wanted to leave. But Toothless seemed content napping in the shade the barred cave provided.

He then decided to take a look around town, it wasn’t long before his leg started to ache. He stumbled around for another hour trying to get home and that’s when he stumbled upon something better.

Hiccup knocked on the open door, peering into the forge. A fire burned inside and the familiar sound of hammer on metal rang through the air. A stout man with a metal lag and hand looked up from his work. It took a second for the smith to recognize who was at his door.

“Major Haddock? What brings you here?”

“Call me Hiccup please,” even though he had been a Major for a year it still felt weird to be addressed that way by people older than him. “I’ve been having some trouble with my leg. You know salt water, old wounds. I think I lost a stud too actually?” He said quizzically, lifting his leg up to look at it himself. He hopped on one foot over to a bench, stretching his leg out on the weathered wood.

“I’m Gobber. Do you want me to see what I can do for you? You might have had better luck with the doctor though.” The man continued clanging away, Hiccup took no offense understanding the need to shape the metal quickly.

“Actually I’m pretty handy with the tools myself so if I could just take care of it myself?”

Gobber raised an eyebrow, and gave Hiccup an appraising look. He was getting a lot of those lately. “Knock yourself out,” the blacksmith grunted. Then he stopped hammering for a second and looked at Hiccup again, “not literally though.”

Hiccup tried not to sigh and got to work on his leg instead. He was indeed missing a stud, and a few screws had been loose as well. His leg throbbed each time he touched and he figured he would have an easier time if he took it off first.

He touched the prosthetic again, gritting his teeth in pain. The salt water had agitated the stump and the metal and leather had stiffened due to the water making it hard to pull off. After a second of pain Hiccup stopped. He was about to ask Gobber for help when a familiar blonde head peaked into the forge.

“Gobber have you seen the Major.” Astrid asked, not noticing Hiccup until the question was out. When she did she turned to smile politely at him. “Major Haddock, I was wondering if you wanted to come to the docks later to oversee the arrival of the dragons? You weren’t supposed to be here yet so we aren’t expecting your help though. Are you okay?”

Hiccup gave her a half smile and motioned to his leg. “Just trying to get this off without screaming.”

“Do you need some help?” Astrid asked, and without waiting for an answer she walked over to him.

“Yeah, that would be great actually. It’s pretty easy to take off, just…” Astrid followed his instructions as he issued them. At some points he just sat teeth clenched.

“Just pull it off now?”

“Yeah on the count of-“ Astrid pulled and it came off easily but painfully. Hiccup half screamed before his mind reminded him he was in the presence of a girl and it cut of. He fell back, head landing with a resounding smack on the bench.

When he was able to move again he started to work. It helped him put the pain out of mind. Astrid sat by quietly. He was so engrossed in his work he didn’t notice that Gobber had stopped hammering or that he had asked a question.

“Hiccup!” Astrid yelled, grabbing his shoulder firmly. “We’ve called your name twice already, where the hell do you go when you’re working?”

“I asked you who made that? It’s fine work, not like anything I’ve seen before.” Gobber said, not bothering to share Astrids frustration.

“I made it.” Gobber raised his eyebrow. “What? I did, I made my own armor too. I’m not all brawn you know?” Hiccup pretended to flex his muscles. Astrid just rolled her eyes.

“Are you done then? Do you want to go see the dragons?”

“Yeah, sure.” Fitting it back on was much easier the taking it off. He put some weight on it, the components slid easily and it felt good to have his foot back. He stood up took a few careful steps, and satisfied with his handiwork gestured for Astrid to go ahead.

They walked down cobbled roads lined with new looking houses. He was curious and finally he asked why they had all been built so recently despite Berk being an old city.

“We get attacked by raiding parties a lot here. It’s one of the reasons we joined the Vikiean Empire. They promised to get us training so that we could protect ourselves. We didn’t expect to get our own dragons though.” Hiccup nodded, Berk was in a strategic spot, both for the empire and Unknown kingdom.

“Speaking of dragons, what about yours? You didn’t have it when you got here and now you do? They don’t exactly come when you call.”

“Mine does.” Astrid laughed, a watched Hiccup’s face, when he didn’t laugh she stopped.

“You’re not serious? Are you crazy?”

“No! Seriously what is it with you people and doubting me?” He threw up his hands and walked ahead.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

He didn’t respond and Astrid followed behind him in silence. When the dock came in view, the towering ship with red flags adorned with a black dragon silhouette was entering the harbour. The dragon’s had arrived.

Hiccup was surprised to see several other teenagers at the dock, along with the Stoic and a few other standing nobles. Astrid walked ahead and went to speak to a young couple, Hiccup took a moment to survey the teens. They were more than likely his new students, which felt awkward since they all seemed to be his age.

There were four, other then Astrid. They stood talking amongst themselves and watching the boat roll further into the harbour. One seemed to be boasting, he was buff, like most of the people in Berk. He looked like he would be a good soldier. He wore thick black armor and brown leather cuffs and moved with a sway that made Hiccup think he was more confident in his abilities than anyone else there. Wether that translated into actually ability was left to be seen.

The two that seemed to be listening looked identical, and Hiccup knew that they must be twins, or at the very least siblings. They were both blonde, not Astrid blonde though, Hiccup couldn’t help but note. They wore male and female variations of the same armor. They were joking and teasing the boy who was boasting, but in a seemingly friendly way.

The last was a larger boy, he stood off to the side watching the boat keenly. He didn’t seem to be interested in his peers. He was blonde to but his hair was shaped in an unappealing bowl cut. He seemed the least soldier like of all of them. He was teaching a pretty rag tag team.

As the ship finally docked he pushed past the students, who watched with curiosity as he approached the large ship. Someone on the deck above looked over and called out to him.  
“Major Haddock! What a surprise to find my missing passenger safely at our destination!”

“Marvio! I took a spill in the ocean with Toothless, seems fate brought me here.” The burly sailor waved dismissively and Hiccup backed up they started to lower the gang planks. When they were finally down Hiccup walked up to the ship, stepping on right foot first to appease Marvio’s superstitions.

“You’ve got a scraggly bunch here Hiccup.” Marvio had been a close friend in the city. They walked below deck, sailors who were busy with the docking didn’t bother to salute but Hiccup took no offense. They continued down until they were in the cargo hold. The mild growls of a dragon could be heard easily as the walked down the stairs.

They were completely alone in the hold except for four dragons. A Gronckle, Deadly Nadder, Hideous Zippleback, and a Monstrous Nightmare. None of the dragons looked particularly strong for their types but at least they had some variety.

“Didn’t even give us enough, wonder if the twins will mind sharing you?” He wondered aloud kneeling in front of the Zipplebacks cage.

“I don’t think you’ll have trouble getting them into their cages, my prince?”

“Don’t start now and slip up later Marvio. I hardly fit in as your prince anyway” He chuckled as the man gave him half bow. “Of course it won’t be a problem.” The Nadder chortled curiously, already noticing the difference the two had from the other soldiers. It was more pronouced when they let their masks slip.

“Toothless is going to do it?”

“Yep.” Hiccup let out a low piercing whistle before confidently unlocking the cages, swinging the doors open.

“You’re crazy you know.”

“I’m starting to believe you people.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually have 13 or 14 chapters already written for this - I want to completely rewrite this after I finish it in another 8 or so chapters to work out any plot kinks and update my writing style. But I'm posting my first draft up to get some comments and criticisms of the story before I work on the second copy.


	4. Fly

The moon had crested the starry night sky, and was hidden behind a blanket of navy cloud. The sky was silent, and even it’s sole occupant didn’t disturb that stillness. On the back of the gliding Nightfury Hiccup remained silent, taking in the beauty of the open night. He watched without seeing as star after star flew past them. He wasn’t sure how long they had been flying, or how far they had gotten away from Berk.

After he and Toothless had led the dragons back to the school and put them in their cages, which they had done alone to the surprise, and horror, of everyone else. He had also taken some luggage from the boat, which the army had kindly sent him, and unpacked at his new place in the barracks. Then he had mulled around until that night, grabbing Toothless as soon as the sun had dipped below the skies and diving into the brilliant mauve sky.

Below them the tranquil ocean rolled wave after wave towards a distant shore. It was hard to believe, Hiccup thought, that just a few days ago he had washed up onto shore at Berk none the wiser to their plans.

“What am I supposed to do here? Why do I have teaching duty anyway? I fought so hard to get into this army but now my position is completely pointless. I kind of just want to return to the clan, we haven’t seen The Alpha in awhile. What do you think bud, just head back to our giant ice cocoon and let the clansmen do the spying?”

The dragon answered by slightly angling his wings, Hiccup adjusted the paper tail in response so Toothless would have no trouble turning. They were facing the direction of Berk.

“Thanks for the sincere empathy buddy.” Toothless flicked his ear back. “I know, do my job be a good prince, set a good example little prince. Truthfully, I think this whole war is pointless, and I wouldn’t support getting involved at all if it wasn’t for the fact that they were capturing dragons. Let’s hope that we find out the better side quick and get this over with huh?”

Toothless grunted and tilted his head. “I have no idea what’s taking the council so long. I figured it would be pretty obvious which side would treat you dragons better.”

The craggy cove that held Berk was coming in to view, and at this angle he could see the towering fences of the so called dragon academy. The other dragons were locked away in their cages, presumably sleeping off sea sickness. They were agitated and afraid and even Hiccup knew better then to leave the cages unlocked. 

“So bud, you excited about being a teacher?” The dragon huffed sarcastically. “I’m going to do my best. Hopefully my best gets me thrown out and returned to the army with anti-glowing recommendations.”  
◊◊◊  
“Welcome to Dragon Training!” Hiccup said, throwing his arms open as he led his new students into the academy.”

“No turning back.” Astrid muttered, the first in a group of five to enter through the stone gate. The twins followed behind her.  
“I hope I get some serious burns!” The boy said.

“I’m hoping for some mauling, like, on my shoulder or lower back.” The girl concluded, in an effeminate version of her twin’s voice.

“Yeah,” Astrid agreed. “it's only fun if you get a scar out of it.”

What was with these kids and pain he wondered? Toothless was napping in his cage, indifferent to the entrance of the students.

“So,” Hiccup started, “should we introduce ourselves. I’m Major Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, call me Hiccup.” The students sized him up, and the buff boastful one stood forward first.

“Who let you teach?” He asked, voice mocking, as he gestured to Hiccup.

“Nice to me you ‘who let you teach’,” he deadpanned. Then glanced at his other students, all but Astrid snickered. “It’ll be easier for all of us if you just spit out your names, Stoick will be happy to supply them.” But still no one spoke.

It was silent for a minute, and Hiccup went to speak again when Astrid piped up. “This is Ruffnut and this is Tuffnut, twins, and this is Fishlegs,” she gestured to the loud one last, “and this is Snotlout.”

“Great, now that basic courtesy is out of the way you can but your bags against the wall. Let’s start training right away.”

“Shouldn’t we set up in the barracks first?” Fishlegs asked, politely raising his hand.

“I’m sure nobody else minds getting right into do they? No, no, nope! Let’s meet your dragons.” He walked towards the locked cages with a flourish, his hesitant students following him after heaving their bags against the wall. He probably could spend the day getting them to unpack and teaching some basic military stuff in the barracks. But he wanted to see how they would do with their assigned dragons first.

As soon as he got to their cages he began to open the heavy iron doors.

“What are you doing?” one of the twins yelped.

“We don’t have whips or shields or-or- anything to protect ourselves!”

Hiccup faltered. Whips? He turned on one foot towards his class, who stood wide eyed and paled in shock. “What do you think we’re about to do?”

“Learn how to ride dragons in a war, Major Haddock,” Astrid growled in a steely voice. “What do you think your about to do? Kill us?”

“What? Kill you?” What was wrong with this town. He stared at them and slowly a picture formed in his head. He hadn’t trained in any military academy, he had passed the riding test with flying colours and his eyes closed, the fact he brought his own dragon was normal since they kept their dragons from cadet training. His clan had taught him the basic military procedure and he flew through the ranks. He had no idea how they trained cadets.

They captured and killed dragons and he thought that training sessions would be friend building occasions? Stupid Hiccup. “I teach differently; you’ll have to trust your dragons on the battlefield right?”

“You are crazy. They’ll kill us if we just let them out. Dragons are killing machines!” The other cadets nodded at her statement.

“What does some lanky loser who got forced to teach here know? I’m out, this is stupid.” Snoutlut grumbled turning on his heels and storming out of the arena. After a few stinging glares the other four followed.

Hiccup watched helplessly as they grabbed their bags and marched out. He was going to get an earful from command when they found out about this.  
◊◊◊  
“-Then they just walk out all, we don’t like the way you teach you useless oaf.” Toothless nodded, staring at the steaming white fish on Hiccups plate. It had several angry puncture wounds where Hiccup had stabbed it with his fork.

“What was I supposed to do? Chase after them? No way, if they aren’t happy with how I teach then I don’t see the reason to want them to learn. Does that make sense?” Toothless nodded again, eyes locked on the untouched, other then the anger driven holes, fish.

Hiccup chuckled as he noticed the dragon’s eyes. They dragon caught his stare and looked up, letting out a soft ‘hrrrr’. Impervious to the dragon’s puppy eyes Hiccup threw him the fish, which he swallowed whole.

“Thanks for listening to me bud.” Toothless crawled forward and nuzzled up to him. They were behind the barracks, eating supper and lounging in the soft breeze. It was quiet to Hiccup, but Toothless’s ears flicked and he opened an eye.

Seconds later a shy voice called out from the front of the barrack. “Um, Major Haddok? It’s Fishlegs, I don’t have a place to stay other than the barracks now. So uh, can I come in?”

“I’m around back.” He called out and soon Hiccup could hear the heavy footsteps approach him. He looked up at the boy from his seat on the soft grass. The boy looked down, eyes on the sleeping dragon.

“Night fury, speed 20 stealth 18. Surprisingly... docile.”

“Toothless is anything but.” Fishlegs observed the sleeping dragon in doubt, his eyes settling on the paper tail.

“If you don’t mind me asking what happened to his tail?”

“Ah, It’s a bit of a tale that one.” Fishlegs didn’t seemed deterred. Hiccup gestured and Fishlegs made himself comfortable on the ground beside him. None but Toothless observed the shadow that hid at the corner of the house.

“I lost my leg the same time he lost his tail.” As Hiccup started the story he began to unconsciously stoke the dragons head. Though the words that left his mouth weren’t completely truth, but the story that played alongside the lies in his head was filled with dark nostalgia.

He had been sixteen. He was still living in the ice cocoon with his tribe, the Bewilderbeast Clan. He was proficient in so many dragon type skills that he had been christened the prince when he was 6 when the night fury pup had crawled into his bed to sleep. The council who ran the clan until he came of power had regaled about the powers he would someday hold. Although they weren’t sure when he would come into these ‘amazing powers’ they told him only someone destined to command dragons like he was could develop them.

It was a bright day when things went wrong. The clan had noticed it before, dragons were disappearing. They left to hunt near a certain island and never return. Patrols had come back with reports of a renegade alpha. Hiccup still wasn’t sure who decided he was the right man to take care of it.

That fight had been hell. Mostly him desperately trying to hang on, while pillars of flame and lighting crashed around him. Toothless could hardly keep up. The wind and the rain beat against them and every odd was stacked against them. And Hiccup foolish with fear made a mistake.  
He provoked the alpha, and took to the sky. Lost in clouds of terror and darkness the fight became a blind struggle for survival. It was then the mistake happened. Falling to the ground, suspended in air and elation of their soon to be win, Toothless had fired the winning shot. But the alpha didn’t go fast, and with a final snap shredded one of Toothless’s tail fins.

It was during that fall Hiccup understood why he had fought it alone. No one else could so blindly sacrifice everything for the clan. But he could, it was all he had, it was where he fit in. He needed that place. Toothless managed to protect him, in as much pain as the dragon was. But the fall had crushed his foot.

It was an entire day before his clan had found him, the dragons released from the alpha’s hold had returned to the cocoon. By then the wound had festered, both his and his dragons. Healer’s did all thy could but they both lost their limbs. They wore their prosthetics as a symbol of what their blind devotion had gotten them. And what, most likely, it would get them again.

Of course Fishlegs was told an edited version. He replaced his clan with various military officials. But even a spy’s version of his story left Fishlegs in awe.

“You seriously killed an alpha! Those are huge, and they have 30 armor and 28 attack! No wonder you’re a Major already!”

Hiccup smiled at the compliment, extra points to you cadet. “Should we get you set up in the barracks then? You get first choice of bunk, and presumably the only choice.”

“I’m sorry about the rest of them, but even I doubted you. Until now of course, if you can manage that then you must be good. I hope that you’ll still teach. Though I may be the only student you’ll have.”

“Well it’s not like I can stop is it, this is my job now.” Hiccup and Fishlegs entered the barracks, and Toothless was fast asleep out back. Neither party noticed the shadow leave.  
◊◊◊  
“Okay class of one let’s get things started. I learned how to train dragons without a fancy whip so so can you.”

As predicted none but Fishlegs had showed up, and neither boy really felt like it was dragon training.

“Again Major H-“

“Hiccup.”

“Hiccup. I’m sorry about the rest of them.”

“It’s not your fault. Plus… They’re right behind you?”

The four missing cadets walked through the gate, which clanged closed behind them. Astrid once again lead them; he could see a leader in her. She was the one who spoke as well.

“I heard yesterday. What you told Fishlegs about the alpha. Trust me, if that’s turns out to be some big lie you’ll have worse then some boycotting students.” Hiccup gulped.

Snotlout stepped up, nudging Astrid aside, and puffing his chest. “Just because we’re letting you teach us doesn’t mean that we think your cool. You’re still a major loser. Hehe, get it, Major Loser?”


	5. Practice

It had been a week since that day the students had returned. It had taken them days just to get close enough to touch the dragons, all the while Toothless watched from his cage obviously amused. Luckily though they had each taken too the dragons Hiccup had assigned to them.

Astrid with the sky blue Deadly Nadder, which was about as perfect match as Hiccup could hope to get. The twins had instantly fought over who got which head when presented with the Hideous Zippleback, the senseless type arguments seemingly a habit of theirs. The slow Gronkle and the stoutly boy, Fishlegs, had too taken to each other, they seemed content in a slower pace. The Monstrous Nightmare had been given to Snotlout who was more focused on the constant power struggle the two had rather then actually getting on it’s back. They had all named them, after some prompting from Hiccup.

Astrid called hers Stormfly, Snotlout called his Hookfang, Fishlegs called his Meatlug. Tuffnut and Ruffnut named theirs a day later. They had to finish the fight over what head was which, then they fought over names. They had settled on Barf & Belch.

It hadn’t taken a week for Hiccup to want to go curl up behind Toothless and watched them flail about with a blatant look of amusement. He didn’t though, and every moment he thought about that he remembered that joy he had felt when they had showed up to class everyday.

They had just finished another training session when Snotlout said the inevitable. “We’ve been doing these nicey nicey lessons for a week, can’t we ride the dragons yet?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Hiccup started, he was cooking them all a small meal. The shared house had become a tight fit once the other students had moved in. 

The bottom of the barracks was separated into two spaces by the stairs that led to his room. One was filled with the five beds, each with a chest at the foot and a bedside table. Across the room along the other wall each had a small desk, about half the size of Hiccups. The other part of the barracks was a small dining room, a kitchen on the far wall. He had used it for lesson on rainy days,makinging use of the dusty chalkboard provided for some strategy lessons. They had most of their lessons outside though, and eventually even some classroom lessons had to be held outside, the chalkboard rolled out into the cobble arena..

“We have a year of training before the exams,” Fishlegs chimed in, “we still need to learn the rest of basic military conduct, flight strategy, dragon riding, dragon riding combat, and my personal favorite dragon classification.”

“If your up for it then we can give it a try tomorrow. But first eat, sleep, bathe maybe.” He set their dishes down and headed up to his room with his own. When he got to his own room he took a deep breath, “bathe definitely.”  
\--  
That morning Hiccup had the dragons saddled and ready before the cadets had even woke up. He figured that it would be better to teach them how to put the saddles on later, since in the real army the dragons were saddled by other’s anyway due to the tendency for the control contraptions to malfunction. The dragons were as excited as their partners, stretching their wings and running around the arena playing. Toothless was the only one who didn’t seem excited.

“Are you doubting me too?” Hiccup asked, sighing when the dragon didn’t even blink to answer. “I can’t keep them interested in patting their dragons on the heads forever can I?” Toothless blinked slowly. The dragon looked like he was about to growl something when the bang of the barrack door caught all the dragon’s attention.

Astrid stared back, wearing her cadet uniform, she must have woken up not long after himself. The cadet uniform was used for dragon riding mostly, though the bigger schools often had students wear them all the time. The ones for Berk were the same style as all the other ones but different colours.

The jacket, which was made a thick material, was a soft aqua colour with grey trimmings. There were five silver buttons on the top, the ones on the lower part were on the inside to give it a sleek look. The cadets were free to wear personal armor as long as it didn’t cover their crest which was a sigil of the dragon they rode. Astrid’s was a black silhouette of the tracker class.

The pants were black and easy to move in and they were tucked into an pair of knee high riding boots. The boots came in either black and brown with two matching buttons on the top outside. Astrid had chosen the brown ones.

She walked over the sound of the riding heel more pronounced on the cobbled ground. Her eyes were on Stormfly. Hiccup had given himself a headache with his own, he opted to wear his own riding outfit instead of armor. His was of a similar style, except the red and black expected of his Major status. It had real gold buttons too.

“Can I try riding her?”

“Sure.” Hiccup called Stormfly over and the dragon responded obediently. Astrid walked over cautiously, but with an improved confidence then before. The dragon watches her approach. Hiccup could see some other students come out as well, and was pleasantly surprised to find that their dragons approached them without being coaxed.

Astrid rubbed Stormfly’s nose, watching the dragon nuzzle closer to her hand. She smiled softly. It shocked her how just a week ago she had refused to take lessons unless she had a weapon. Astrid moved fluidly towards the saddle, holding the side lightly, and careful raising herself into the saddle. Around her the other did the same, Hiccup just watched and Toothless hadn’t been saddled.

“Where are we flying?” She asked, paying attention to how the dragon moved, clutching tightly to the bridle in her hand.

“Just stay in here for now, a few flaps up and down until you get the hang of it.”

“What?” Shouted Snotlout, “How are we going to learn to fly like that. When I said fly I meant actually fly. Just because you’re a wimp doesn’t mean we are.” With that comment he gave his dragon a harsh kick, yanking the line and with it the Nightmare’s head. The proud beast didn’t like that and with a mighty sweep of its tail it tried to throw Snoutlout off his back. This started a chain reaction.

Meatlug who had lazily let Fishlegs onto his back was grazed by the tail giving the sleepy dragon a fright. It twisted in a delayed attempt to avoid it and Meatlug and the dragon toppled over. They in turn bumped into the twins, who were already distracted by which was riding which head. Not prepared for the incoming dragon they flew from their own with harsh thumps onto the stone ground. At lastly Barf tripped up with Belch, who was avoiding Ruffnut and bumped right into Stormfly. The dragon jumped back and Astrid fell to the ground.

Now dismounted the students scrambled back in a desperate attempt to avoid the now frenzied dragons. Who either were stumbling to stay on their feet or avoid the other dragons or cadets. Toothless let out a screech trying to calm them, but hearing the quiet dragon scream just seemed to worsen the anxiety.

Soon the arena had become a mess of nervous screeching dragons and frightened cadets and Hiccup was still trying to keep up with the domino effect that had just happened. When the students had managed to crawl to the walls of the arena on pure instinct and Hiccup had shushed Toothless he dealt with the dragons.

He stepped in quickly, both hands raised and remaining as calm as he could. The first dragon he reached was Hookfang, the first domino. He raised his hand, placing one on the dragons nose and the other underneath it’s jaw. He looked in it’s eyes, remaining calm and the dragon let out a halted breath. He helped Meatlug up and the dragon calmed quickly. Barf and Belch had managed to calm themselves down and stuck there heads over for Hiccup to pat. He rubbed their scaly necks before looking over at Stormfly.

The dragon was staring at Astrid, who had her back against the wall. The dragon looked almost apologetic but Astrid looked upset. Not at the dragon, Hiccup thought, but with herself. The dragons themselves had gone back to the center of the arena, none the wiser of how they had scared their partners.

“That’s enough for today, it’s probably better to let everyone calm down.” The other students nodded blankly.

“Is it usually like this?” Fishlegs asked, raising his shaking hand. Hiccup walked over to them as they started to stand.

“No, that was a certain overachievers fault. Tomorrow we can try again if you want,” he offered a weak smile. The hint that he was not going to allow them to continue today was easy to get. He didn’t want them to feel bad of course and quickly added, “I wanted to get some things fixed on my own saddle today as well, if you don’t mind?”

“It’s fine.” Astrid huffed, brushing dust from her pants and storming back to the barracks. The other cadets followed in silence. It had gone much worse then Hiccup had expected.  
\--  
After unsaddling all the dragons and returning them to their cages he fixed a small tear in his saddle. It had several which had been repaired with various colours of string. The saddle was old but he had made it at the forge at his clan. It used some of the finest materials they had. He wasn’t about to trade it for some military issued saddle. He had just finished when Toothless had bounded over and wiggled his little, ‘let’s fly’ wiggle. Seconds later he and his dragon were dancing through the sky.

His wings caught the slight breeze and he soared, ducking through invisable rings and twirling in sickening spirals. He darted upwards, fell backwards, rolled, and went up again. By the time Hiccup recognized the dance Toothless was preforming his body was already way ahead of him.

Astrid watched from inside the barracks, her peers were grumbling behind her. She watched as the small figures flew through the sky, looping and twirling with the ease of professionals. They were professionals, she had to remind herself, Hiccup was a trained soldier. Still the ability they displayed in a minute topped what they had ever done by 100 000%. Her cheeks still burned with embarrassment.

“He’s amazing!” Came an excited voice from behind her, it was Fishlegs, who watched the aerobatics with sparkling eyes.

“Yeah,” She replied in a quiet voice, “so is his dragon.”

“It must have been hard for him in the army.”

“How so?”

Yeah, he’s a Major already I doubt he had a hard time.” Called out Snotlout, the twins mumbled through their mouthful of hardtack bread in agreement.

“That’s exactly why. He’s the same age as us but he had to command people older than him, probably people who had served longer than him. I doubt they liked that. And just look at him, those maneuvers are so well he must practised, he must have never stopped training to prove that he was right for the job. One slip up and no one would respect him.”

“He must really love this country.” Astrid murmured.

“Not as much as I love this country.” Snotlout said, rooting through the hardtack bag that the twins had been hoarding.

“I want to be able to fly like that.” Fishlegs says, they watch as the figure loops through the sky.

“Me too.” Astrid says almost dreamily. “We’ll have to practise hard, like he did. And we’re going to have to get back on the dragons.”

“Of course were getting back on the dragons, one little mishap won’t stop us.” Snotlout muttered sitting down on his bed with his own hardtack.

In the sky the dragon stopped its aerobatics and started to fly straight towards the forest, they watched until the two were out of sight. They all knew that someday they wanted to ride a dragon like that.  
◊◊◊  
Hiccup had returned to the barracks much later, when the sky was stained by dusk and the students were all studying their books by themselves. In his hand he clutched a sealed letter. He didn’t great his students even though they looked up at him as he walked in. He headed straight up the stairs.

As soon as he got up there he opened the letter and glanced at the thick black ink. As he and Toothless were flying the caught sight of a riderless dragon approaching the island. They went too greet it and saw that there was a letter tied to it. It had the Bewilderbeast seal and Hiccup had spent some time in the forest reading it over and over before returning.

Now he read it again.

“Hiccup, we wouldn’t contact you so recklessly unless it was important, which you know. Something is happening in the Vitikean court, we don’t yet know what. Lips are tight but soldiers seem to be avoiding the court more and more. We don’t think they’ve noticed the spies in the court or they would have acted by now. Since you are the spy in their highest rank we hope that your return may bring us more information. We have won you some favour back in the court and although you haven’t been gone long we recommend that you write a request for transfer. If something is up we need to know soon,

The council of the Bewilderbeast clan.”

Once again Hiccup found himself writing a letter he didn’t really want to. He had influenced the training of these cadets, they were doing well too. Today’s failure had been a minor setback and his leaving might bring the wrong idea to them. But even with the regret he dipped his quill into the black ink and started to write.

I courteously acquire your acknowledgement of my request, I feel my skills would be better utilized in the ranks of…


	6. Mail

It was the wee hours when the messenger entered the barracks, waking up all but two cadets to receive a letter from Major Haddock to the army. He didn’t understand why it was so urgent. But as he accepted the letter he felt the burning stare of the wild blonde the entire time. The letter was heavy, sealed with the official military seal and signed in thick cursive black letters.

He had been tasked with carrying confidential letters before but this one looked very official. He felt the weight of it in his satchel as he set off towards the docks, the letter was to leave immediately and the reply would return on one of the fastest ships they had. It would be done in a day or two.

What he didn’t expect was a figure moving with the stealth of an assassin and clobbering him on the head just as he turned the corner. Above him stood the wild eyed blond, holding a wooden practise sword.

“Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.” Said Snotlout coming around the bend behind her, he was followed by Ruffnut. Astrid grunted rooting through the bag for the letter. What was so important that he had to send the letter this late at night, and after they had made such a huge mistake. They needed to make sure he wasn’t asking them to close the academy or something.

“So what does it say?” Asked Ruffnut. Astrid carefully peeled away at the still soft wax seal. The letter opened to reveal delicate cursive writing, not something she expected. Though it made sense, no one became a Major without sending a few letter to a few important individuals.

“He wants to request a transfer back into the military, he feels like he could be better used there.”

“Why? ‘Cause we messed up today? Well maybe we will get a better teacher.” Snotlout huffed.

“Well I don’t really want him to leave thinking that we’re bad students.” Ruffnut muttered. He nudged the unconscious messenger with his foot.

“Let’s go back and tell the other’s, I don’t want him to leave either.”  
◊◊◊  
Ten minutes later the messenger woke up, all letters in his bag and nothing taken but his left sock. He would blame trolls for tripping him up. Silently he cursed his parents for naming him Iris, a beautiful name that everyone loved. Except for trolls.  
◊◊◊  
The cadets acted so well the next day Hiccup almost wanted to get on Toothless and stop the letter before it reached the capital. His ties to the clan were the only thing that stopped him. Even the dragons behaved and listened to their riders intently. By the afternoon all of them were flying up and down in the small arena with no difficulty.

Hiccup knew that if the transfer came through and they couldn’t fly a dragon by the time the next instructor arrived the dragons would be subject to a much more painful and gruelling training. So after a quick lunch he leads the cadets out to the yard and saddled Toothless.

“We’re going to try flying now, okay. You have to stay calm, pay attention to you dragon and most importantly listen to me. I don’t want an accident because one of you thinks they can do a barrel roll or shot lasers from your eyes. This is to get a feel for your dragons got it?” The students nodded intently and Hiccup began to open the gate. Slowly each dragon walked out, stretching their wings to full length and lifting their heads. Toothless was excited today also but he walked at the back of the group slowly, making sure everyone stayed calm.

The soft breeze couldn’t be felt inside the grey walls of the arena but here it traced against their bodies. The students and the dragons had become visibly excited. Hiccup couldn’t blame them. That feeling of soaring through the air on the back of you dragons was incomparable to any experience that world had to offer.

“Everyone stay with me okay. Slow and steady now let’s get into the air.”

“Yes sir!” Was the collective response.

The dragons rose under their riders’ command. Soon the array of dragons had all taken to the air, not even the most prideful of the bunch could hide the twinkle in their eyes. Then slowly they moved forward, the light wind catching under their wings as the rose. Soon all of Berk could be seen above them.

“Let’s head over the ocean so no one has to clear you off the cobble.” Hiccup shouted out, speaking again with his authoritative voice. Soon the 6 were above the stretch of the ocean, picking up speed as they got more and more comfortable with each other. Hiccup didn’t speak, he didn’t give orders, he didn’t teach. He observed.

Observed the way that Astrid’s hand brush slightly against the dragons’ neck as she tries to stay in the group. The way that the twins, who fight about the drop of a hat, work in unity to lead their dragon through the air. How the prideful ones are so locked in to their flight that they can’t be bothered to try and be cool. The way that Meatlug is wide awake and happy wearing matching expressions with his partner. They were all riders right now, not soldiers.

This will all be ruined when the new instructor comes. That single though was the only thing that kept Hiccup from enjoying the flight as much as his students. The students noticed it too, other then his excitement at the beginning he had been tame for the rest of the flying lesson.

“Master Haddock?”

“Yes Astrid,” came the timid reply, the Major was fixated on something on the horizon. Nothing anyone else could see.

“I- well actually, we read your letter. To the army. The request for transfer.” Astrid started hesitantly, the co conspirators instantly reacted, jerking around to look at her.

“You did what? Do you realise reading someone else’s mail is an imperial offence? Your lucky that I’m not the kind to report that stuff! More serious Major’s they would’ve… oh what they would’ve done to you. You didn’t take the letter did you?”

“No! We just read it, we were worried since we had done so bad yesterday. We thought you wanted to get the dragon’s taken away.” Astrid cried back. The dragons had taken control as their masters spoke, and only Hiccup realized they were flying towards Berk again.

“You read it then?”

“Yes, all of it. Is it because we could fly the dragons that first time. We’re flying them now aren’t we?”

“It isn’t like that. That was an honest mistake, none of you are really to blame. Don’t feel bad about it okay?” They answered with a few quiet “yes’s”.

The reason I want to leave has nothing to do with you guys. I just, well, I fell that a would be a better fighter then a teacher. I have enjoyed this time but I feel like I’ve done all I can for you.”

“S-sorry Hiccup,” stuttered Fishlegs hesitantly, “but we’ve seen you flying on Toothless and I don’t think that we’ve even scratched the surface of your knowledge.”

“Maybe so. Let’s finish this lesson, at the barracks tonight we can talk.”  
◊◊◊  
The dragons had happily entered their cages, tired from the first flight they had had in weeks.  
They talked long into the night, discussing and re-discussing but Hiccup stood firm. In appearance. Inside he was raging a war, his loyalty and his desire to stay clashing together. It was the fact that the letter had most likely reached the court that allowed him to stay so steadfast on his transfer.

Soon the students began to drift off, dipping their heads in mid sentence or lying down, actively leaving the conversation. Hiccup stayed up until the last of the questions had been asked and each student had finally fallen asleep.

Finally, he crawled into his own bed, satisfied that he had at the very least allowed his students to see that violence wasn’t the only way to fly a dragon.


	7. Sender

Hiccup woke up to a subtle noise. He sat up alert and stood up, quietly enough not to wake the students downstairs, rushing to the window. There was Astrid, walking across the arena. The noise he had heard was the door closing. The figure strutted across the grey stone heading towards the dragon cages.

Hiccup was surprised to see her stop at her dragon’s cage, and not just look in but sit down criss-cross. She must have been talking to the dragon since he could her a faint churl of response, followed by the girl’s laughter. Hiccup wasn’t sure if he should go out, but he had a good excuse. The dragons morning exercise.

He changed quickly and walked down the stairs, past the snoring students and out into the frosty morning air. His breath formed a cloud in front of his face, the chill settling into him as soon as his feet hit the ground. He closed the door quickly, to preserve the heat in the barracks. Astrid didn’t seem to hear him as he approached.

“Good morning Astrid.” He finally spoke when he was right beside her. She didn’t react.

“Good morning Major.”

Hiccup sighed, even after he had told all the students to stop with the title a few kept it up inconsistently. He didn’t bother to say anything about, which might be the reason that they didn’t stop. Instead he began to crank open the cage door.

“You’re letting her out?!” Astrid squealed jumping up off the ground as the cage began to open.

“Yeah just to let them stretch their wings, do you mind?”

“Of course I… I mean go ahead,” She stuttered, breaking sentence and staring at the ground. Hiccup broke out into huge grin and the door swung open. Stormfly sprung out happily greeting her rider. Astrid’s embarrassment was forgotten and she reached out, rubbing the dragon on the snout gently. As she did Hiccup started to let out the other dragons, who walked out of their cages stretching as he had said they would. Toothless nosed opened his own cage, which Hiccup still refused to lock and stretched his back, arcing it low and wagging his tail slightly when he caught Hiccups eye.

Hiccup smiled and walked over to his dragon, who had come out of his stretch bouncing excitedly. “No buddy not flying yet.”

“It’s like you understand him, it’s amazing actually.” Astrid said, causing him to jump at her sudden appearance by his side. He caught her slight revenge smirk.

“We spent most of our lives together, but we have always had a strong connection.”

“Do you have any siblings Major?” She asked, reaching out to Toothless, who gladly accepted the petting she offered.

“No, I don’t have any. Neither do you I’ve heard?”

“Of course you have, not many people haven’t. It doesn’t help that my family is one of the only noble families in Berk, everyone was expecting a male heir to be born. My parents say that they don’t even have a female heir, their joking sure but I think that they know that I want to do other things. They’re really great. As for siblings Berk isn’t that big, everyone here grew up really close to each other, the other cadets are like cousins at least, I never lacked in companionship. But with you I can’t tell, you are good at talking sure but, you always seem to be lying. You chose your words carefully; you choose your jokes carefully. I think your hiding something. And I think your past has something to do with it.”

“I don’t know what your talking about.” Hiccup took a step back, composure was key. “You can’t seem to stop saying it so I’m surprised I have to remind you. I am a Major. I have secrets, military secrets, secrets that could turn the tides of war. You learn to watch your words in this kind of business.” He was too harsh, he tried to relax his shoulders, pull the frown from the corner of his mouth. I. Am. A. Spy. I know how to lie, I can trust in my lies, I rank over her. Lying may rhyme with spying but that doesn’t mean she knows. He bit his lip in an attempt to hide he smile at his last strange comforting thought.

“What?” Astrid snapped, put off balance by his sudden attack. He let the smile form on his mouth.

“Sorry, it’s just that it’s nice to see someone so naive everyone in awhile.” Astrid scrunched her face in either disgust, embarrassment, anger or a mixture of the three. “In court you expect lies, you expect people to tell you only the truths they want you to know, it’s all confusing and I stay out of it the best I can. But a Major doesn’t rise through the ranks without a little sweet talking and poisonous honeyed words. Habits that can get you places stick fast and stay put. I don’t mean it in a bad way when I say that your naivety is refreshing, it really is to me. It’s like, like, I’m interacting with real people again when I’m with you guys.”

Astrid just stared at him, watching as he spoke listening to the words. It slipped out before she could stop it, “That sounded real.”

“Haha it did didn’t it, quite unlike me.” Beneath the hand resting on his dragons back he could feel Toothless settle, the flight or fight melting from his body as soon as it did from Hiccups own. The dragons had started wrestling while they had talked and were now just settling down again.

“They’re so different from what I imagined.”

“Not the killing beasts they’ve been portrayed as are they.” Hiccup replied.

“It hard to imagine that in the past they were slaughtering us by the hundreds.” Astrid murmured as she stroked her own dragon.

“We were slaughtering them by the thousands.”

“Yeah, I guess we were. It’s sad to think about. Though you must have heard about that clan right, the one that protects the dragons. There are even stories that the man who first rode the dragons was the founder of that clan! The Bewilderbeast clan I think, we’re trying to get the alliance aren’t we, cause they could supply dragons.”

A lump formed in Hiccups throat, he knew how to formally discuss the clan, but informally. How much should he say when it comes to this.

“Hiccup?”

“I- uh…”

A booming voice echoed from out the arena, drawing the attention of every occupant. “Major Hiccup!”

“Ah Iris! Has the letter arrived?” Hiccup turned from his conversation with Astrid and started walking to the edge of the arena nearest to the messenger.

“Yes sir, sealed and signed and hand delivered.” Hiccup held out his hand and gestured for the messenger to drop it down. He didn’t feel like ushering the dragons to their cages just so the messenger could enter. Iris complied, he was quite subservient by nature. The letter was heavy enough to have a straight descent, and Hiccup caught it and drew it to his chest easily.  
“Thank you for the hard work. Stop by the academy later and I’ll have your pay and a little something for the speedy delivery.”

The mans smile brightened instantly, “Thank you Major!” He nodded to Astrid before hurrying of to complete the rest of his early bird delivery.

Hiccup hurriedly opened the letter, leaving Astrid to stay quiet out of respect. She watched as his green eyes skimmed across the page, darting back and forth and saw his eyes become dark. He looked furious, his hand clutching the edge of the paper and the snarl that hid beneath his soft features.

“Toothless,” he snapped, “get the dragons in their cages. Astrid the lessons for today are cancelled, tell the other cadets.” Toothless and Hiccup worked quickly, in sync with each other as the dragons were herded and subsequently locked into their cages. Astrid watched from the side, taking slow steps back to the barracks. She wanted to know what was on that letter that had such an affect on him.

She heard his footsteps approach, and turned around to speak to him. To her shock he just stepped around her, still reading the letter and fast walking. He went through open the door to the barracks, it slammed against the outside wall and surprised yelps from her formerly sleeping could be heard from where she stood. She hurried to catch up, but only managed to watch as an angry stomp completed his journey up the steps and his private door slammed behind him. The ‘do not disturb’ was implied by the sliding of a heavy lock, it clicking soundly into place.  
◊◊◊  
Hiccup read the letter, written in the choppy writing of his superior with a sense of hate and dread. For who he wasn’t yet sure. But the words resounded in his head like someone was screaming in his ear, constant and grating. ’17 missing dragon rider pairs’, ‘evidence of violence’, ‘two tortured dragon riders’, ‘we believe that the Bewilderbeast clan may be involved’, ‘You are not safe’.

It was impossible Hiccup thought, the council took some liberties in his absences but surely something as criminal as this would not even be considered under his command or any other. The clan supported the idea of peace between humans and dragons, they didn’t degrade humans, even those who misused the dragons. Everyone was ignorant without the proper teaching.

There was one name that stood out from the others. 1st Lieutenant Orri, a long time friend of Hiccups, one of the few soldiers that respected dragons. She and Hiccup had served in a smaller unit for awhile, even though Hiccup was quickly promoted they stayed in touch. He had visited her and her wife for dinner all the time, he had watched their children when they wanted to spend a special day together before Orri’s next deployment. She had never disrespected him because of his young age and celebrated his promotion over her.

She was one of the few soldiers that he could truly respect, an honorable woman. She had done nothing more to her enemy then they had done to her allies. She did not deserve this, that he knew. The others on the list brought back no memory, mostly low ranking but all with dragons.

Why? Why were they considering the clan’s involvement, had the clan made a mistake and been spotted near the military zones during a scouting mission. Had they been taking dragons? It just didn’t make sense for the clan to do it, from any perspective. Right now they were a possible ally to both armies, they wouldn’t be harmed. But even if their powers with dragons were feared who was to say that if they were defined as enemies both sides would not play their part in eradicating them.

Hiccup was pacing, reading over the letter, which was three pages thick. This was why they had sent him away. They were afraid that he may be lost if the people doing this started to become braver. Or that if it was the clan they may want to free the Nightfury.

They weren’t going to transfer him back. But on the upside he knew why the court was stressed anyway. He felt guilty to even consider it, but he knew that he should follow his gut, quell his worries before it interfered with his work. He slid open his lock and opened the door marching down the stairs. The students stood at his entrance, looking nervous. He felt bad for acting out but he didn’t have time to apologise. He carried the letter to the fireplace and knelt before it lying the papers on the hot embers, the flames had all but died without supervision, he wondered if the cadets had been waiting for him.

The letter started to burn slowly, and remembering the previous mail reading offense as he stood he stomp on the letters, burying them in the embers and soot, dirtying his boot while he was at it and sending out a flare of sparks. One of the students stepped forward to stomp them out.

“M-major?” Questioned Fishlegs, who stood cautiously across the room. “Did they not accept the transfer?”

“Uh yes, no, no they didn’t. I’m leaving for the day, maybe the next. Lessons are cancelled until my return. That’s it, dismissed from duties so go visit family or something.”

“And where do you think your going?” Barked Astrid, finally at the end of her wits with the angry Major. He wasn’t acting like himself.

“I’m going home.” And as he said it he stormed out, his anger and confusion being wrongly taken out on the others. Toothless was already there, looking as somber his master. Toothless was saddled in record time and Hiccup wasted no time with pleasantries with his students, He was stopped only for a second when Astrid handed something to him. A satchel filled with food and a change of his clothes.

“Be safe okay, come back soon. I hope that whatever happened gets sorted out quickly.”

“Thanks Astrid. And I’m sorry that I have to leave during your lessons. Just feed the dragons in their cages. I should be back before they get too restless.” Astrid nodded and gave him a sad smile. He smiled back and at the same time tutted Toothless into action. Soon they were out of the arena and zipping through the sky. They flew as fast as they could, so that the dark thoughts couldn’t keep up.

“We will save them bud.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once I get to the end of what I have written I'll start writing the last few chapters - hopefully you all enjoy where I take this!


	8. Home

The flight was a long one, yet they didn’t stop once. Hiccup hugged the saddle the entire time, ignoring the numbness in his legs and arms. Had he not left so early he wouldn’t have arrived until the next day, but the island was coming into view beside the moon. Despite the dire situation that had led him here he couldn’t help but feel happy to finally be home, even Toothless seemed excited to finally see the island, or perhaps he was excited to stop flying.

Bursting from the cocoon were two dragons and their riders, scouts come to see the approaching dragons. Hiccup slowed to greet them easing his aching body into a more upright position. He had to use his hand as a balance, Toothless slowed even more when he heard the pained moan that escaped Hiccups lips.

“Prince! We weren’t expecting you, you could have sent a letter!”

“I figured that it’s be faster to come in person. You know Nightfury and all.” The scout chuckled, flying past Hiccup slightly so he could turn around and they could fly wing tip to wing tip. The other scout had headed back to the mountain to announce his coming.

“It’s nice to see you Hiccup. It’s been awhile hasn’t it?”

“War does keep one busy.” Hiccup gritted his teeth as Toothless started to lean into the turn for the entrance.

“You okay?”

“I flew here from Berk with stopping, everything hurts, even my missing leg.” The scout chuckled again and his own dragon turned into the entrance as well. Soon they were bursting into a cavern filled with dragons.

The dragons at the mountain outnumbered the people 3:1, and as soon as you entered the flurry of colourful wings and mixture of cries could be overwhelming, but to Hiccup it was all part of home. The entire space was covered in green moss and lichen, with geothermal heating the inside remained a lovely temperature despite the fact it was encased in a sculpture of ice. Toothless landed right away, only to be mobbed by a group of curious dragons. They hardly noticed Hiccup sliding off the dragon, and stumbling away.

The scout that had greeted him waved as he ran off to do whatever he had to do. Hiccup just nodded back and leaned against a nearby wall, wishing the pain away. It took mere seconds for the council to appear, a man to help Hiccup walk was supplied and a doctor to check on him was summoned. In minutes he was feeling like a prince again, pampered but constantly attending meetings.

The council didn’t wait for the check up to end, they didn’t even let him go to the doctors. The doctor came to the meeting room, where Hiccup was eased into a chair and had his feet propped up on another. The doctor got busy, and so did the council. He ended up repeating what he had been told in the letter from the army while having his wound redressed. Meaning his explanation was interrupted by a few ‘ow’s’ and at least two, ‘still too tight, doc.” The doctor was basically a vet moonlighting as a doctor, they must have grabbed the closest person, who also had a hard time remembering humans weren’t as hardy as dragons.

The council listened to the story and spoke briefly between themselves. Then the leader of the council, Valka, spoke, “We have rescued five dragons around this area,” she gestured to a general area on the map spread out the table. “They all had injuries that appeared to be from other dragons, we just assumed they were from a battle and took them in. Perhaps some of them are the missing dragons. Still I’m shocked that you would see the need to come all this way just to clarify that we are not kidnapping humans.”

“Sorry,” Hiccup said sheepishly, “the military is getting to me, I can’t trust anyone. I already feel better just being here, I realize it was foolish now.”

“Well I can’t say that I’m not glad to see you anyway Hiccup.”

“Me too, mom,” Hiccup said with a smile, she rolled her eyes not bothering to remind him to call her by her title during meetings.

“Maybe you should stay a while, request some leave? It might be good for you to remember what you are fighting for.”

“I know what I am fighting for.” He mumbled.

“When was the last time you and Toothless went exploring, when was the last time you spent your day in the forge slaving over hot coals to make something for no reason Hiccup? You don’t have time to enjoy your life anymore, you can hardly blame me for wanting you to take some time to look at what you can have without a war. When we finally end this I want you to be excited because of our win, not still reeling because you’ve been a soldier for so long.” 

She paused to move closer, her voice dropping the rapid fire pattern of speech she used to lecture him. “You’re on the fast track to becoming an Admiral for an army that is still technically your enemy, you don’t even want or need that position yet you have to fight for it. So I just want you to taste what you’re really fighting for again.”

 

“Yeah I get it, but I need to save these soldiers. One of them is a friend.” He looked for the understanding in his mother’s eyes and found it. The rest of the council did not interfere until Valka nodded for them to go ahead.

“Since this is a serious situation, and it seems you have no plans for a break perhaps we should prepare for you to leave immediately?”

“No,” another council man interjected, “let the clan see him, it will raise the moral. I feel that our decision will have to be made soon.”

“Yes, I agree with Jonha, we should let him visit his friends, perhaps even he could use the moral upbringing?”

“Does the rest of the council agree that he should stay for a short period before returning to his station?” There were a number of murmurs of agreement and it was settled. Hiccup, having gotten used to having his choices chosen for him, consented with his silence.

◊◊◊  
The kids were gathered around him, telling him one after another about the dragons they befriended and how they were all doing in their lessons. The older kids told of their flying exploits and some told him about how they were already in working positions. The adults mostly told him of important happenings, marriages, births, deaths and the likes. They could see his eyelids drooping as the night wore on, and it came to no one’s surprise that as Hiccup made his way around his home, visiting and talking he became sleepier and slower.

He finally fell asleep visiting the dragon nursery, a baby nightmare curled up in his lap and Toothless fast asleep, acting as seat for Hiccup. The council didn’t dare wake him right away, as the people of the clan seemed at ease with their oddball back in place. It was truly a wonder how a figurehead simply being there could bring such calmness to the clan.

When the night was half way through the council finally woke him, ushering back up to the top of the mountain. His mother stood waiting with his saddle and several charters and scrolls.

“To help with your mission,” she said stacking the papers into the saddlebags after she had saddled Toothless. She watched Hiccup get on the dragon and smile on her face. “I noticed that you already have a packed lunch, it’s not very Hiccup-like to pack ahead. Did someone special make it for you?”

“Mom!” She smiled and winked, “I’ll miss you.” He turned to hide his blush. He didn’t have to for romance.

“Good job changing the subject. You know that I miss you to son. But the war will end soon, so then we won’t have to worry about each other so much.” She hugged Hiccup, who hugged her back. He really did miss her.

“Now go be good, stay safe and good luck with the lunch-packer.”

“Bigger worries mom, like the war?”

Valka just laughed him off, and gave Toothless a quick pat. After a few more goodbyes the two were off again, they would not arrive in Berk until the afternoon the next day. They wasted an hour at a nice island where they split the lunch.  
◊◊◊  
He arrived back at Berk just before a storm ravished the island. He had only been gone a day and a half but that was all the time it took for the storm move over the island. As he and Toothless circled the academy the first few raindrops started to fall from the menacing grey clouds. They could see the barracks; a steady trail of smoke poured from the chimney.

As soon as they landed Toothless bounded over to his cage, briefly stopping to greet the other dragons. Hiccup just continued to the barracks carrying the leather satchel filled with the charters and scrolls. As he reached forward to open the door it swung open nearly smacking him across the face. Astrid tumbled out looking slightly flustered, holding the door half closed blocking his view with her body.

She looked up at Hiccup, then coolly straightened herself. “Welcome back Major. Where ‘ya been?”

Hiccup flinched as another raindrop fell onto his face. “It’s where I’m going that concerns you,” he grumbled. She just stood there giving him a confused look. With a roll of his eyes Hiccup started to move around her and into the barracks. “You’re in my way.”

“Oh.”

The other students sat at the small table where they at supper, spread out on the table was a haphazard pile of cards and a few coins in the middle, though curiously enough none of the students had cards in their hands. His students had turned into delinquent gamblers in a day and a half.

Fishlegs was the first to speak and his comment stung a little, “you came back!”

“Of course I came back,” he murmured, Astrid followed him in and closed the door behind her. Outside the rain could be heard growing steadily heavier.

“Are we going to start training again?” asked Ruffnut.

“It’s raining right now numb-nut,” Tuffnut jeered.

“I know that. I meant later lame brain.”

“Not today,” Hiccup answered hastily, stopping the other twin from continuing the fight. “I have some work to do so maybe not for awhile either. Are the dragons all well?”

“Yeah, I took care of them.” Astrid said, she had returned to her spot at the table along with a smirking Snotlout. Each one turned in their seats and stared at Hiccup, leaning towards each other, obscuring his view of their game. 

“Thank you Astrid. Now I’ve got to… get to that work. So, I’m going upstairs, be, uh, good.” Hiccup stumbled over his words, suddenly feeling awkward being stared down by all his students. He gave them a lopsided smile and headed up to his room.

He heard the students relieved sighs; though he didn’t see them brush away the cards to reveal a carefully pieced together charred letter.  
◊◊◊  
Hiccup poured over every inch of the charters that lay in a circle around him. He sat on the ground reaching over a map to mark a note on another. Lines ran over the maps like frost on a window, they covered Hiccups view of all the names of towns and islands. Yet slowly a pattern was forming.

Outside the rain was beating against the side of the house, thunder so loud and rumbling it shook a jar of Hiccups’ pencils off his desk. Hiccup had gratefully reached over and picked up one of the unbroken ones as his had grown dull and then had simply continued working. Below him he could hear the faint footsteps as the other went about their days, and as time trickled forward the faint smell of supper drifted into his room.

But his mind threw all that away when he finally finished his work, a series of lines and dots marking the soldier positions when they were taken and their routes, which he knew from the armies’ documents. Of course, the Vitikean army was missing the final key to the puzzle, the location at which the missing dragons were rescued. Hiccup had managed to trace it all to an supposedly uninhabited island two days’ travel from Berk.

It was an instant reaction, going from sitting on the floor working to packing bags for travel. He rushed about grabbing clothes, a blanket, canteen and other travel supplies. He had two leather satchels stuffed full when he was finished. He grabbed his sword which had gotten no use since he had gotten to Berk, he also checked to make sure his armor wasn’t in need of repair.

When he was finally satisfied with his packing he started towards his door, only to be reminded of something when his hand touched the handle. The loud crash of thunder outside and a surprised yelp from one of the boys told Hiccup he wouldn’t be leaving just yet, he would have to wait for the storm to end.

With nothing left to do but wait Hiccup walked over to his bed. He clambered in and under the unmade covers. It wasn’t long before he drifted off  
◊◊◊  
A knock at his door woke him from his dreamless sleep. He listened for a second, not to the knock but to the outside. No rain he thought. Birdsong.

“Overslept. Oh no.” Hiccup was out of his bed and grabbing for his bags within seconds. Outside his door the knocking became a voice.

“Overslept for what?” Astrid queried.

“Nothing. What are you doing here?” Was his clipped reply, he grabbed his boot and hurriedly put them on. He kicked his maps out of the way trying to hide the careful set up he had left in it overnight. Then he opened the door for Astrid.

“I was wondering if we were having lessons today?”

“Nope sorry no lessons. I have to go so if you could just…” Hiccup tried to slide past her. She held her arm out, resting on the edge of the doorway.

“Where are you going again in such a hurry. Don’t think your little disappearances haven’t been noted. I want to know what’s going on. You hardly even addressed being refused your transfer. No one gets over that kind of news that fast. So you better start talking.” Astrid took a moment to peer past him into the room.

“I don’t...”

“What ever it is better not involve that.” She quipped, nodding towards the maps scattered on the floor. In his haste Hiccup had managed to scatter them about but the one that sat on top was the one he should have hidden. The location circled several times with his pencil with the words two days travel written boldly above it.

“I- I know this looks bad but trust me. You see…” Behind him a draft sent a pile of paper scattering across the floor drawing her attention to the packed bags in the corner. Astrid looked past him curiously but he moved to block her view. “Haha you got me! I’m planning a vacation for myself! I’ll be down in a sec so…”

Astrid started to look to the other side of the door. Hiccup moved with her. She glared at him spitefully then with a humpf moved back.

“If your going to be like that then fine. This is for running off,” and as she spoke she drew back her leg and kicked him in the shin. Hiccup gasped but aside from gripping the door frame a little harder and taking some weight off his leg didn’t move. He was about to tell her nice try when she spoke again.

“And this,” she stops mid sentence and Hiccup pulls back his leg so her only option is the metal one. But with a smirk she stretches her leg forward before he can react and hook it behind prosthesis, then bracing herself with the doorframe yanks forward. Hiccup falls back and slams against the ground, “is for everything else.” With Hiccup on the ground she had a clear view of everything. Including the packed bags.

“You’re leaving!?”

“Just for a little.” He muttered taking Astrid outstretched hand. With his secret discovered he goes back and grabs the bags, pushing past and down the stairs, she followed behind him each step of the way.

“You’re going to go find the missing soldiers aren’t you?”

“How did you- My mail again? I thought I burned that.”

“You tried. Fishlegs took it out with the iron as you left.”

“Well that’s just great. I’m writing you all up now since it seems that is what you want.” Hiccup snapped back. He noticed that none of the other students were in the barracks. He had canceled lessons yesterday though so perhaps they figured he would cancel them today too. Astrid just stayed back to check. Seeing no reason to linger he pushed open the door and started off towards the dragon’s pens.

“You can’t seriously think you can do this alone, can you?”

Hiccup didn’t reply instead he started to push open Toothless’s gate, which had been forced closed during the storm.

“If you plan on running away again then you’d better think twice.” Said Fishlegs. Hiccup turned and was surprised to see the rest of the cadets standing behind him. They all had various pastries from a bakery in the upper town, they had gone out for breakfast.

“Ym merfh wisfe tof speef helpf from mh morhls deflthest whepon.” Tuffnut spoke something unintelligible through his mouth full of muffin.

“Um?” Tuffnut said something else equally as understandable as the first thing and then Snotlout and Ruffnut called out something too, both with mouthfuls of food.  
“I uh… Actually I still don’t know. Astrid?” He finally asked confused.

“I think they are trying to say that they want to come too, we all want to help.” She said helpfully. A few vigorous nods confirmed the statement.

“I don’t know, it is a long trip on the back of a dragon, and it is all time sensitive I can’t be slowed down because of beginners.”

“We won’t slow you down,” Fishlegs started the reconsidered what he was saying, “we technically will slow you down because you have a Nightfury. But our assistance may be helpful in other ways.”

“Nice Fishlegs.” Snotlout barked angrily, then looked back expectantly at Hiccup.

Hiccup thought for a minute, looking at the hopeful faces. “Go pack a bag quick, if you’re not back in ten minutes I’m leaving without you.”


	9. Peace

The weather had warmed up drastically by the time they were over the ocean. Hiccup had set a brisk pace for the cadets to keep up with yet as the day progressed they became more and more comfortable flying their dragons. The dragons themselves seemed simply happy to be flying for real and tamely followed behind Toothless. The cadets had seemed to realise that dragon riding was a team effort.

Hiccup couldn’t help but be gripped with nostalgia as they flew, how long had it been since I traveled with people when we weren’t about to go fight he wondered. This thought, and the feeling that the moment gave him thrust the memories into his head. He let himself slip into his mind.  
◊◊◊◊◊◊  
He was named the prince the day after his sixth birthday. It changed everything for him. From that day onward he was ostracized by the other children his age. His life consisted of tutors and studies, learning a hundred different secrets for hundreds of dragons. Map making, map reading, sword fighting, hand to hand, dance. Outside his room he would watch the other children wrestling the dragons trying to tame one. He would catch a glimpse before he would be forced back to studying.

As a prince he would become the figurehead and leader of the clan. He would oversee both dragons and people, though the council would help him on the human parts. When he was eleven the constant pressure of his book studies was alleviated and Toothless was old enough to ride. Once they got him on the dragon it became impossible to get him off. He refused to be taught by riding tutors deciding instead to develop his own style, and after months he had surpassed them all anyways.

He would often visit the forge where his uncle worked, building strange things that other didn’t understand. The extensive study of books that had been forced upon him had aided in his curiosity. This was the only hobby he was allowed to keep, the only outlet for his creativity. This showed in the mass amount of failed experiments that littered his room. But as time passed and he got better none complained about the wasted metals left in his wake.

Even though he was fitting into the role of a prince well the other children still wouldn’t accept him. He was so different. While they ran about the cocoon playing games, wrestling, went hunting or adventuring Hiccup only studied or flew his dragon. It wasn’t long before his body adapted to this, making him lean with muscles in all the right places for the quick slight of hand movements that high-speed dragon riding called for, but not such hunting.

He looked different than them, though differently then them, was treated differently than them; he wasn’t surprised they didn’t like him. Yet he hardly faced any open remarks due to his status, which made him feel even more alone. They would just avoid him.  
Because of this it was more common to find him speaking with dragons then with humans. He developed a close friendship with the alpha and many other dragons of the clan. It wasn’t a strange sight to see Hiccup hoping from dragon to dragon as they zipped through the air, only to dive off one and be caught by another. His connection with dragons was stronger than that of his with the humans of his clan, and they all knew it.

After his fight with the alpha things slowly started to change, other started to acknowledge him as a prince. It was long after that the war broke out.

Once again everything changed.

Suddenly it became all about the military, keeping track of grain stores was replaced by keeping track of spies. Book study became war strategy. They had to be prepared for everything.  
◊◊◊◊◊◊  
“Hiccup!”

“Huh?” He looked about, seeing the annoyed face of Astrid glaring at him.

“It’s getting late, shouldn’t we land and take a break?”

“Yeah. Just follow me.” Hiccup steered them towards the direction of an island they couldn’t yet see, he knew was there from his map. It was another hour before they landed on the small islands sandy beach.

The students divided the tasks some pitching tests and other gathering fire wood. Hiccup spent the entire time napping shamelessly under the shade of a pine tree. The cool of the shade and cold of the coming night made him sleepy. Unconsciously he rubbed his leg which were again stiff from riding.

“Feeling okay, Hiccup?” Fishlegs asked, his puffy cheeked rosy red from cold and exertion. In his arms was a bundle of kindling.

“Yeah, just a little stiff.”

“That’s what you get for rushing around” Astrid called out as her bundle of sticks clattered onto the ground. She set up a small fire and Toothless lit it for her. Fishlegs waddled over and dropped his sticks onto the pile. Soon all the cadets had huddled around the fire. There shadows cast behind them, dancing, and their dragons lay at the head of each one sound asleep.

Hiccup made a move to stand and join them in the meal they were breaking out when a small noise behind him made him freeze. He heard it again, then a different one from the other side. Slowly his hand went to his belt, fingers strumming against the blades hilt. He turned ever so slightly, just to get a glimpse what was stalking him.

A Terrible Terror looked up at him, wide eyed and mouth lolling open. As soon as it caught his eyes it toddled towards him and stroked up against his leg. Hiccup could see the scar the ran down his back and scooped down to play with the little beast.

“Fredrick! Who would have thought I’d see you again.” The little dragon cooed and nuzzled up to Hiccups neck. Hiccup held the little heat pocket tightly. From behind him the other noises revealed themselves and various coloured Terrors peaked out from the bush. Soon a few other were flopping at his feet to get a scratch.

Fredrick nuzzled into Hiccup, licking up and down his neck with his rough tongue. Hiccup started to push him off when the little dragon reached up and nipped at his ear. “Ouch!”

The five military cadets whipped around at the Major’s sudden exclamation, and their dragons jumped up at the sudden movement. They all took a moment to make sense of the scene. Hiccup leant up against a tree and a pack of dragons curled up against him. He didn’t even notice them, to busy trying to keep all the dragons from crawling onto his head.

“How do you do it,” Fishlegs asked?

“Do wha-ouch!”

“Be like that with the dragons! There fawning all over you!” Astrid barked.

“They’re just so cuddly though.” Hiccup pried the one currently biting him off. A few of the Terrors perked up at the smell of food drifting over from the direction of the voices. Soon a few of the dragons had scuttled over to the group and were snapping their jaws hungrily at them.  
Hiccup smiled as the students let them crawl onto their laps and gave them pieces of the food they were cooking. They had warmed up to dragons. Toothless nudged Hiccup and they both went over to join in the delight.  
◊◊◊  
The waves rushed up against the sand, twisting it into little streams as it was pulled into the sea. Hiccup stepped quickly through it, letting the soft sand muffle his footsteps. Toothless followed in stealthy unison. They worked their way further from the cadets so that there take off wouldn’t be heard.

Hiccup bit his lip, he felt guilty slinking away like this but they couldn’t actually believe he would take them somewhere so dangerous. Of course, they could but he just couldn’t find the will to let them come. He had fell under the pressure the other night but leaving here was the best for them all.

They would only slow him down in battle. He would make this a stealth mission, whatever was on this island he would take by surprise. He didn’t need brash rookies rushing out and acting spontaneously trying to get recognition.

He would just return for them when he had completed his task.

Toothless shoot an almost silent breath of air to get Hiccups attention. They were far enough away. Hiccup stepped into his saddle. He wiggled his feet to get the heel of his boot to mold into the stirrup, his legs whined as he got into position. Toothless silently spread his wings, head dipping and muscles testing.

A final glance to the sleeping ones. Then a quiet cluck and they took into the air. The Night fury and his rider disappearing into the black, swiftly and silently.


End file.
